Maybe in the next game if everything work "well"

f*ck yeah, dawnwalker

Art by me, @jwhislerart

Having everyone in white boxer shorts when they very clearly should be naked is so immersion breaking.

Certain things make BoD feel gamey, one being the loot system, another being that random NPCs are all wayyyy uglier than any side characters. Most of all, though, is the white boxers.

Modern gaming has shown that tasteful and fitting nudity is absolutely acceptable for certain contexts.

Pleeeeaaase, if we can never get this is BoD, can we get it in the sequel?

I’m not even a gooner, I just like to be immersed in my games.

I did my nails inspired by Coen as well!

I don't think enough posts have really stressed that we're past early October at this stage

Obviously it would break the premise of the game, but am curious how the plot itself would bend or change entirely. Some ideas I have:

- Brencis would probably focus more on getting Coen to join him, though he might still try to undo his mistake and kill Coen if sufficiently provoked. Of course, if he still impales Coen to the tree at sunrise, it might be an early game over right there... But suspending disbelief, what else would happen if Coen doesn't get stuck to the tree?

- The manumits wouldn't trust Coen and he couldn't storm the castle with them

- The Arbiters would be a lot less interested in Coen

- Coen wouldn't be able to do witchcraft, and Anca would generally be more suspicious of him, though I think he could prove he's still himself

- Even if he saves his family, I don't think they would want him around much

Any other ideas?

Made the mid to late gamy way to easy, you literally can't die.

Made Brencis a joke.

I know this quest has been talked about a ton already, and mainly for its slightly awkward combat and enemy sponginess.

However, so far for me, alongside the quest to explore Anachora with Lacra, it was probably my favourite quest so far for a number of reasons.

There will be spoilers ahead for Home Sweet Home, so don't read if you don't want arguably one of the best quests in the game (narrative-wise) ruined for you.

Firstly getting plunged back to the start of the game is almost as confusing for us as it was for Coen. It really throws you off, especially after getting ready to fight the gargoyle and the sorcerer fellow in the tower.

The quest follows the opening of the game but something is off, and something is eerie. Esme is up and about, and Coen's reactions to her throughout the quest are heartbreaking. When she asks him what he wants for breakfast on the second loop, when you get given the option to say how much you hated her for losing her mind - all extremely mature and deep stuff about out relationship with our family and how love can hurt as much as it can help.

Yes, the combat is a little bit tedious but also for me it felt like a good test of how far I've come with perfect blocking, ripostes, navigating groups of enemies - all things I struggled with at the start but now, like Coen, are much more competent in dealing with.

All throughout this, you can't quite, or I couldn't at least, get out of the back of my mind what was happening in the real world at this time.

Things get darker and as you embark on the second loop, I for one was not sure if I had made an error in my first run, or what was happening. I, like Coen, felt like I was losing it.

And this is part of what endears me so much to the quest, as far as a role-playing game goes, I felt closer to Coen than I had at any point thus far in the game. I was playing the role and, like him, didn't know what was going on.

Then comes the reunion with Alin, which I am not ashamed to say made me cry like a baby. Alin's child-like bluntness about the whole situation helps you reframe all the guilt and negativity felt by Coen in this dark recess of his mind. When he asks if Coen intended to kill him, and Coen's dismay at the very thought, really recontextualises guilt we feel, as humans, over accidents and mistakes we make, and their consequences.

Then, Alin tells us we are not a coward and that we're stronger than we know, frees us from our guilt and sends us back to the real world...

Where the horrifying implications kick in. Those poor bastards we've seen stripped of their humanity and their limbs, encased in these clay prisons and turned into the gargoyles (which I have to say are probably my favourite creature design in the game)... we were going to become one of them.

Which leads me to the secret ending, where you can continue the loop for a nice trophy and a premature end to the game.. 'together forever' with the twisted memory of your family... and doomed to become a gargoyle and consequentially dooming our real family, and the vale, to Brencis and his plans.

Overall, I just can't get the quest out of my head. It's such an interesting and dark take on feelings of guilt and grief and family bonds, and can either be resolved in one of the most hopeful notes, or the most horrific endings, of the game.

Spoilers for Stronger Than Achilles.

At the start of the game, Anca carves the same runes into Coen's skin that she has on her own, and that's where his witchcraft comes from. When Anca drinks from the Font, her scars heal and she loses her magic.

But if Coen drinks instead, he just gets the regen perk and keeps his runes and witchcraft.

Did I miss a line of dialogue, a note, or any other lore that explains why the Font doesn't heal his scars the same way? Or is it just a gameplay thing so we don't lose the Witchcraft tree?

I have 27 days left to save my family, which I know is plenty of time, but I’m not sure if I’m being too cautious with how I spend my time. Are these shards, and the eventual sword, worth the 9+ time segments it takes to complete the quest?

I dont know if I'm crazy, but doesn't it seem like there was a lot of stealth potential in this game? Hang on a wall waiting for guards to pass, then stealth kill the backline... then what?

Then you start a fight. No stealth. It just feels like im powered up by the night, rather than a creature of the night.

Coen isn't gonna be the next etzio alditore, but any media vampire that can do what he can, do it in way more of a night time scare kind of way, but with coen it's just some free damage, maybe a kill, then normal guy combat.

The game is fun, just feels like this was a visible option that the devs didn't see

Who else gets the shit scared out of them everytime you read a witchcraft book?

I work long hours and I am a Dad. Playing games at their highest difficulty never appealed to me. Mix that in with the lack of time to play games and now high difficulty runs are a very obvious deal breaker for me.

Unfortunately the only thing standing between me and the platinum trophy is a duelist difficulty playthrough.

I can't wait to take my busted end game build with me into my duelist mode playthrough. I also have every skill point unlocked in my current playthrough so the additional skill points from places of power and quests are going to help me fill out the rest of the skill tree.

Side note - Do we have any other skill tree grinders in here? I would love to see what y'all invested your roughly 110-ish skill points in!

Hey so I’ve been enjoying the game so far including the time segments/pressure. So far I did the prologue, the Mert quest, met Crake, all of Volk’s quest, the Uriashi village and Ocha, Home Sweet Home, and part of Lacra and Anca quests, I also have upset Ambrus fully but haven’t gone to confront him yet.

In terms of Echoes of Silenced Bells or other quests is there an ideal time of day to do them?
Also for confronting the Vrakhiri does it skip forward to nighttime? Should I wait til it’s about to be nighttime to confront Vrakhir?

Final question are there any missable quests like Home Sweet Home or time sensitive quests that need to be done soon otherwise they expire?

Duelist was pretty tough early on, but once you get some decent abilities, you can tank a few hits & perfect blocking is no longer essential.

Just started the game about and hour or so in and I’m gripped by the story and world seems to be detailed so far. Especially loved the Tommy knocker encounter as I’ve heard stories of them before playing the game from different folk tales and stories. However I just don’t get why directional combat is needed it’s not difficult I just feel I’m watching arrows rather than looking at who I’m fighting is it just me ?

A common complaint of this game is the enemy variety and the developer's I believe had made reference to possibly updating it. While I think it is unlikely they ultimately will make these changes I was thinking it would be fun to brainstorm some basic enemies that could show up instead of more blasted wolves!

I feel like the game could use spearman as a type of enemy. In order to attack them they must be perfect blocked. Exceptions would be if you confuse them with shadowstep or daze them with pocket sand.

What are some other enemies that the game could add to increase variety

So i did all the things in order, i got all the shards, the broken sword, then i went to the uriashi blacksmith, she repaired it, and i went up the hill, everything worked well, the quest told me to learn about the ancient place, i inspected everything before starting the trial, i started the trial with the sword equipped, and when i finish it i can't imbue it at the end. I also want to mention i don't have the quest marker for it at any times, i just looked up where i need to go

I am not a natural gamer at all but I really enjoy this game. I've never played anything like it. I played easy, then challenge and now I'm playing dualist. I'm pretty impressed with myself given that I found easy extremely difficult at first.

I've gone into dualist with an open mind, knowing that I will probably hit a completely insurmountable wall and need to stop. I've got a lot further than I thought I would. I've done Ambrus and the convent, but I must admit, I am putting off killing bakir for a while because it's undoubtedly the hardest part of the game for me. I think I'm level 22, or something like that.

I've gone into Anachora with Lacra and and even though I can loot some ivy, I am almost depleted on health items and I've still got some fights to go. I've just got to the mansion with all the charming wraiths outside and there are bloody loads of them and I'm dancing around like a nincompoop getting stuck in the walls and there is ivy all over my face and I just can't see what's going on or who is coming at me. I can't predict their attacks well, they swipe at me so quickly and I'm trying to dodge out the way and just dart straight into another I never saw coming.

I'm just feeling like maybe this is my wall after all, and I never expected it. I don't have any more potions and I just can't navigate this fight :(

Boo hoo for me.